The PAAK POLL - does it “work” for you?

[COMachENoDecals]

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[SnBGC]

One full day without the fob.
Pretty light day, only made 10 trips. The first 5 drives were nearly perfect. Only issue was the failed kick to open to start my day but then the next 4 trips were good. The door opened on first press, start button worked on first press, walk away lock worked and kick to open worked each time I tried it.

During the 6th drive I got a message about key not found. At the end of that drive, walk away lock failed when I parked the car.
On the 7th and 8th drive, it took two presses for the door to open, start button didn't work so I had to enter the start code. Walk away locks didn't work nor did kick to open.
The 9th drive the kick to open did not work but the door did pop on the first try. Start button failed so enter the start code instead. Walk away lock failed so I force locked (since I was stopping to pick up dinner to take home).
Last drive to go home the door did not open even with multiple presses so the pillar code was required. Then I needed the start code again. Walk away lock did not work when I got home nor did the kick to open. I had to push the open button to get the hatch to open and then manually force lock the car before going into the house.

Statistics.
Kick to open worked 3 out of 10 times.
Door opened on first press 7 times, twice it required 2 presses and once it did not open so the door pillar code was needed.
Start button worked 6 times. The other 4 times required the start code to drive.
Walk away lock worked 5 out of 10 times

I am not sure how to grade PaaK after just one day but the fob does all these things first try every time. I guess it depends on each person's definition of working. If "working" means I didn't get stranded then it works fine. If PaaK is compared to the fob then it's half as good at best. Kick to open only working half the time makes that feature useless. No matter how many kicks I tried, it just didn't open.

I'll probably use PaaK when I go to the gym but every other time I'll be using the fob since it's been 100% for the last 18 months. Working thousands of time in a row is hard to beat. There is no way PaaK can match that sort of performance. Just isn't possible IMO...

 

[dmitry]

Thought maybe PAAK was finally fixed since last update and tried today to drive without fob. With phone in the pocket was able to open and start the car with no issues, which was surprise for me. But then while I picked my son and he closed the door appeared “key not detected”. Unfortunately, PAAK still doesn’t work and I’ll keep using the fob. Or it’s time to change my old iPhone X.

 

[mkhuffman]

One full day without the fob.
Pretty light day, only made 10 trips. The first 5 drives were nearly perfect. Only issue was the failed kick to open to start my day but then the next 4 trips were good. The door opened on first press, start button worked on first press, walk away lock worked and kick to open worked each time I tried it.

During the 6th drive I got a message about key not found. At the end of that drive, walk away lock failed when I parked the car.
On the 7th and 8th drive, it took two presses for the door to open, start button didn't work so I had to enter the start code. Walk away locks didn't work nor did kick to open.
The 9th drive the kick to open did not work but the door did pop on the first try. Start button failed so enter the start code instead. Walk away lock failed so I force locked (since I was stopping to pick up dinner to take home).
Last drive to go home the door did not open even with multiple presses so the pillar code was required. Then I needed the start code again. Walk away lock did not work when I got home nor did the kick to open. I had to push the open button to get the hatch to open and then manually force lock the car before going into the house.

Statistics.
Kick to open worked 3 out of 10 times.
Door opened on first press 7 times, twice it required 2 presses and once it did not open so the door pillar code was needed.
Start button worked 6 times. The other 4 times required the start code to drive.
Walk away lock worked 5 out of 10 times

I am not sure how to grade PaaK after just one day but the fob does all these things first try every time. I guess it depends on each person's definition of working. If "working" means I didn't get stranded then it works fine. If PaaK is compared to the fob then it's half as good at best. Kick to open only working half the time makes that feature useless. No matter how many kicks I tried, it just didn't open.

I'll probably use PaaK when I go to the gym but every other time I'll be using the fob since it's been 100% for the last 18 months. Working thousands of time in a row is hard to beat. There is no way PaaK can match that sort of performance. Just isn't possible IMO...

This is similar to my experience. Since the day a couple weeks ago when PaaK completely failed and I couldn't remember the emergency start code (still need to figure that out), I have been carrying my fob.

It is a small PIA to carry something extra, but now the door opens every time and I never get no key detected. And I might turn the kick to open feature back on as it would be nice to use it. It was so unreliable with PaaK I turned it off. I also turned it off to prevent the hatch from opening on its own but then it did that a couple weeks ago anyway, even though kick to open was turned off. So if I am going to be carrying the fob, I may as well turn it back on.

 

[kulaga]

It's been slower to connect reconnect to the Fordpass app after the OTA. Longer than usual

This. My option would be all of the above based upon the current OTA applied. I've gone from no issues to delayed response and key missing back to no issues then 20% delayed wake...

To be fair though, I have never carried the fob and have only had to use the backup code maybe 3 times in the last year. Had a long stretch of just working before the last group of OTAs.

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[SnBGC]

This is similar to my experience. Since the day a couple weeks ago when PaaK completely failed and I couldn't remember the emergency start code (still need to figure that out), I have been carrying my fob.

It is a small PIA to carry something extra, but now the door opens every time and I never get no key detected. And I might turn the kick to open feature back on as it would be nice to use it. It was so unreliable with PaaK I turned it off. I also turned it off to prevent the hatch from opening on its own but then it did that a couple weeks ago anyway, even though kick to open was turned off. So if I am going to be carrying the fob, I may as well turn it back on.

I am kinda curious if the reliability reduces as the daily trips increase? It was nearly perfect for the first 6 trips and then sorta went MIA.

I didn't do anything different. Was still using my phone the same as normal for voice and text etc. One time I was actually in a call when I tried to start my car and it just said no key detected. Bluetooth connected fine for phone calls though. Didn't have any issues that I remember with that yesterday.

I think people think PaaK is just to open the door and start the car but it also is supposed to let you use kick to open before your drive. Then when parked, the kick to open should work again as well as walk away lock.

The walk away lock is the one that bothers me the most because it could fail to lock and we might not realize it. With the fob, that feature is super reliable. With PaaK it wasn't very reliable.

 

[Mach-Lee]

Couple of questions. When I set up PaaK on my phone last night, I got this message. Is this anything to be concerned about. I pressed the proceed button and it seemed to work fine. Later in the process I got stuck because it was asking for a PIN and I was expecting to see something on the Sync screen but I eventually figured out it was asking for the pin that my phone showed me a few screens earlier.

People need to pay more attention to this limited support warning IMO. This means Ford hasn't calibrated the signal response characteristics of your phone yet, so you should only expect a 6/10 performance instead of a 10/10.

How many people with poor PAAK performance forgot about this message and are now complaining?

I think Ford could help themselves here by publishing a list of tested and verified phones. If your phone isn't on the compatibility list, then expect a poor PAAK experience. Forum, maybe we could make a list instead?

 

[COMachENoDecals]

People need to pay more attention to this limited support warning IMO. This means Ford hasn't calibrated the signal response characteristics of your phone yet, so you should only expect a 6/10 performance instead of a 10/10.

How many people with poor PAAK performance forgot about this message and are now complaining?

I think Ford could help themselves here by publishing a list of tested and verified phones. If your phone isn't on the compatibility list, then expect a poor PAAK experience. Forum, maybe we could make a list instead?

I think people are having variations of issues with PAAK. That notice of what was going on I think just came out in Oct, end of Oct right? My issue is 100% PAAK is down since Sept. I am not complaining just saying what happened and @Ford Motor Company is reaching out and working on it for me. I think mine spans something other than their down issue, but whatever it is they will fix it.

I wish I had a 6/10 though haha!

 

[Mirak]

People need to pay more attention to this limited support warning IMO. This means Ford hasn't calibrated the signal response characteristics of your phone yet, so you should only expect a 6/10 performance instead of a 10/10.

How many people with poor PAAK performance forgot about this message and are now complaining?

I think Ford could help themselves here by publishing a list of tested and verified phones. If your phone isn't on the compatibility list, then expect a poor PAAK experience. Forum, maybe we could make a list instead?

I never saw this message when setting up PAAK. Where is the compatibility list?

 

[Mach-Lee]

I never saw this message when setting up PAAK. Where is the compatibility list?

There isn't one published. That's why I proposed the Forum creates one?

 

[Mirak]

There isn't one published. That's why I proposed the Forum creates one?

How? Based on the input in this thread, the problems don’t seem isolated to any particular phones. iPhones, androids, there doesn’t seem to be a pattern. It works for some people and not as well for others.

 

[Mach-Lee]

How? Based on the input in this thread, the problems don’t seem isolated to any particular phones. iPhones, androids, there doesn’t seem to be a pattern. It works for some people and not as well for others.

When people set up PAAK, they could note whether they get that limited support message or not and report it to the forum.

Seems like a lot of people with Samsung phones have delay issues?

 

[Xweb]

PAAK is not ready to be relied on. My wife's Model Y works perfect with PAAK, but the Mach E is brutal. It like Russian Roulette whether it is going to work or make you look like you are trying to break into a car

BTW I use a Pixel 7 Pro. I have set the battery usage to unoptimized and I refuse to keep the app running in the foreground.

 

[SnBGC]

When people set up PAAK, they could note whether they get that limited support message or not and report it to the forum.

Seems like a lot of people with Samsung phones have delay issues?

My current phone is Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G.
When I was PaaKing yesterday, there was no delay. It either worked right away or not at all. The two times that I had to press the door button more than once was unexpected because the car was unlocked already (since walk away lock failed the previous drive.

Sounds like building a car that can use a phone as a key is a huge commitment on the manufacturer's side because they are going to have to keep up with all the different phone models in circulation as well as phones that haven't even been made yet.

 

[Darauk]

This is a very timely thread to stumble upon. I just got my car and started using PAAK straight away. I've already developed "bad" habits of not only leaving the fob at home, but I have also started to forget my house key as well. And it's only been three days.

1. PAAK isn't as good as the fob, but the issues haven't been common (yet)
2. 2022 GT Performance Edition
3. iPhone 14 Pro Max
4. I try to use the phone as the fob, but in the handful (literally less than 5 times) the car didn't recognize my phone, I got the phone out to force an unlock. For what it's worth, once I force an unlock it seems the car doesn't want to recognize PAAK.

The question I have for everyone is: do you keep the Ford Pass app running 100% of the time like the reminders keep suggesting?

Edit: I only plan to use PAAK for short little trips, like groceries or to the coffee shop. For longer trips, like a bigger drive or to go to a hockey game or the movies, I plan to have the fob just to ensure no shenanigans happen.

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